Two-photon laser scanning microscopy is a fluorescence imaging technique that allows fast and minimally invasive imaging of living tissue to a depth of up to one millimetre at sub-micrometre lateral resolution. Compared to confocal microscopy, two-photon imaging offers the advantages of deeper tissue penetration, less photo damage outside the focal region, inherent optical slicing, and less chromatic aberration.
The technology allows fast, detailed imaging of calcium signalling at the synaptic level, including measurements of cerebral blood flow (after intravascular injection of fluorescent dye), brain fluid dynamics (after injection of fluorescent tracer in the cerebrospinal fluid), and brain metabolism.
The NORBRAIN node at UiO includes advanced two-photon laser imaging units for:
- in vitro imaging of slice preparations
- ex vivo 3D serial imaging of whole rodent brains
- in vivo brain imaging of fluorescence in living and behaving animals
- multi-focal holographic imaging with optogenetic stimulation
We offer expertise and imaging technology for a wide range of basic science applications. Depending on project needs and experimental design, access is typically given in a collaboration context.